Breakdown of Ima previše brašna za ovoliko tijesta.
imati
to have
za
for / at (a table) (+ instrumental)
previše
too many / too (with an adjective)
brašno
flour
ovoliko
this much
tijesto
dough
Questions & Answers about Ima previše brašna za ovoliko tijesta.
Why is ovoliko used here instead of toliko or onoliko?
Ovoliko means "this much", referring to a quantity of something right here, close to the speaker (like a bowl of dough right in front of them). Toliko would mean "that much" (near the listener), and onoliko means "that much over there" (far from both).
Why is tijesta in the genitive case? Doesn't the preposition za usually take the accusative?
The preposition za does take the accusative here, and the pronoun ovoliko is actually in its accusative form! However, words of quantity like ovoliko always force the noun that follows them into the genitive case. So, tijesta is genitive because of ovoliko, not because of za.
Is brašna also in the genitive case because of a quantity word?
Yes! The adverb previše (too much) is a word of quantity, so it also requires the following noun to be in the genitive case. Since brašno (flour) is a neuter noun, its genitive form is brašna.
Why do we use ima to say "there is"?
In Croatian, the 3rd person singular verb ima (from imati, to have) is the standard way to express "there is" or "there are" when stating that something exists. You will almost always see this existential ima paired with words of quantity and the genitive case, just like in this sentence.
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